Voting Is America’s Most Sacred Act of Citizenship

There’s a reason citizenship-naturalization ceremonies are popular and the perfect kind of story to cap off an evening news broadcast. They’re universally happy occasions, regardless of one’s politics.

The ceremonies that take place in our national parks are particularly moving. This year, on the Fourth of July, 167 people took a sacred oath of allegiance and became United States citizens at the foot of Mount Rushmore.

The Citizenship Rite of Initiation

Men and women who are not U.S. citizens can join our armed forces and die on the battlefield defending America — but until they become citizens, they do not have the right to vote.

Nearly every religion has a rite of initiation. The Catholic Church, for example, has a Rite of Catholic Initiation for Adults. It typically lasts about nine months and culminates at Easter Vigil with participants (called catechumens) being presented for baptism. For nearly all Christian denominations, people who want to be disciples of Christ must wait to participate in the Lord’s Supper until they have been baptized.

It is the same with many fraternal organizations. Initiates must wait, learn, and endure a period of testing before becoming full members, or, in this case, before becoming citizens.

Under federal law, it is illegal for non-citizens to even register to vote, much less cast a ballot. That is how protective our system has historically been over the right to vote.

It degrades the system when, in some states (Michigan is one example), applying for a driver’s license automatically adds applicants to the voter roll unless they take action and opt out.

Defenders of the opt-out registration system say it has the advantage of getting more people registered. That may be true — but at what cost?

Automatic Registration Systems Undermine Voter Rolls … and Put Non-Citizens in Legal Jeopardy

These automatic additions through departments of motor vehicles not only undermine our voter rolls, they put non-citizens in legal jeopardy, bordering on entrapment. If new immigrants, whose addresses may change frequently, fail to return the opt-out postcard that says they don’t want to register to vote, they automatically become part of the Qualified Voter Roll, are legally registered to vote, and are queued up to request an absentee ballot.

Registering to vote is one of the first privileges of citizenship and the prerequisite for the greater privilege of voting. Voter registration by non-citizens is a serious crime and the penalties can deprive unwitting immigrants of eventually gaining U.S. citizenship.

New immigrants are a vulnerable population requiring special protection, especially when it involves their right to register and ultimately to vote. There are Reddit threads for immigrants seeking citizenship, and some posts include desperate pleas for help because the individual has accidentally registered to vote and now his citizenship may be jeopardized.

The United States has opened its borders to more immigrants than any other country. In fact, one-in-five of the world’s migrants (19%) live in the U.S.

For new U.S. citizens, voting for the first time in November, we share their excitement; and at the polls we say, “Right this way, fellow Americans!” For those waiting for citizenship, we understand their eagerness to participate in our elections, but voting is a sacred privilege earned over time. It’s the American way!

Kristine Christlieb is senior correspondent for Michigan Fair Elections and also writes on Substack about the nonprofit sector at Trust But Verify. You can also find her reporting at The Federalist.